


Runaways

by wildandflowering



Category: Messiah Project - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 23:36:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4282299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildandflowering/pseuds/wildandflowering
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's rare these days for Haku and Eiri to cross paths, but when they do, they make the most of it.  Even if it means they do nothing but look at the stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Runaways

**Author's Note:**

> Set after Hisui no Shou in the great unknown that is post-graduation. Very slight and vague spoilers for Hisui no Shou.

_I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream._ \- Vincent Van Gogh

Stars don’t exist in cities. Maybe one or two, the really bright ones. Or so Haku always thought when he was younger, before he learned to read, before he devoured knowledge wherever he could get it. Stars do exist. It’s just light pollution that overpowers their own tiny lights, all those lightyears away.

Reading takes away a lot of magic in the world, replaces it with truths and facts. Not that Haku has had a lot of magic around him to begin with, but that’s all in the past.

Out here in the country, far from the electrical reaches of the city lights, stars definitely exist. He lies down on the blanket, his legs bent so he can actually fit on the blanket, and just looks up. Stars, stars, stars. Hundreds and thousands and millions and so many more. Uncountable. Unfathomable. Tiny pinpricks of light in a sheet of black, like heaven is peeking down on the world below.

He knows better, but it’s a nice thought.

Growing thirsty, Haku breaks his gaze away from the sky and reaches over to the pile beside him, grabbing a juice box. He quickly pulls the straw off and frees it from its plastic wrapping, then feels around the top of the box with the straw for the thin foil circle before puncturing. It’s done in a matter of seconds, if it takes even _that_ long, and he’s about to look back at the sky above, but the figure bathed in such soft starlight on the blanket next to him catches his attention.

_Eiri._

He’s not even doing anything particularly exciting, but Haku sips and watches, anyway. Takes note of how, unsurprisingly, Eiri’s feet are the only thing too long to fit on his blanket. How he supports himself on his arms behind him. How he rests his head on one of his shoulders, then rolls his head with a quiet crack of his neck, and switches sides.

It’s been ten months and four days since Haku has seen Eiri last. Their paths rarely cross anymore. Haku doesn’t even know if they’re in the same country most of the time. So when coincidence is on their side for once, they waste no time in falling back into their old but never forgotten relationship. Messiah. That’s what they are and that’s what they’ll always be, even after graduation and even with the seemingly constant separation.

That’s not something Haku has ever seen explained in books. Well, he has, but it’s all abstract thought and based on emotions and feelings. Soulmates.

And yet…even though he can’t touch it or reach out and feel it, Haku still knows it’s real. Just like the stars above. Just like Eiri.

He takes another sip, still watching the other man. “Let’s run away together.”

Eiri turns toward him, a soft laugh brushing past his lips. Haku doesn’t look away. Haku sees how his eyes shine in the dim light. “Yeah? Where are we gonna go, then?”

Where, indeed. The world is huge. They could go anywhere. Haku rolls to his side and falls silent, as if he’s seriously thinking this over. Then, after a few seconds, “Canada.”

Eiri laughs louder, lying down to mirror Haku, though he props his head up on one of his hands. “Canada’s cold. You’re on your own.”

“Cuba.”

“You a cigar collector now?”

“Hogwarts, then.”

Eiri groans, rubbing his free hand over his face. “Oh my God, _stop_.” Haku feels his lips curl up. Ten months and four days later and Eiri is still Eiri. A little quieter, a little more subdued, but that’s to be expected after…

Haku’s smile falters and he returns his attention to his juice box.

(Even now Haku doesn’t think too much about what happened to his brother and everything leading up to it.)

For the next few moments, only silence passes between them. Haku sips at his drink, both hands grasping the small carton a little tighter than necessary. Then he unwraps his lips from the straw. “Where would you go?” Slowly, his gaze takes Eiri in again, but his Messiah doesn’t answer. He traces invisible shapes on the blanket and not for the first time Haku wishes he could tell what Eiri is thinking. Usually he’s an open book, his emotions written plainly on his face or in his eyes or expressed quite clearly in his voice. But every now and then it’s like Eiri has closed a door, leaving Haku locked out.

He shouldn’t complain. He did it to Eiri for far too long.

Eiri exhales and rolls onto his back, looking above at the speckled sky. “…The stars. And you’re not allowed to laugh!” He points at Haku, as if that would scare him off from being genuinely amused. Which he is, but there’s something else there, too. Fondness, definitely. Affection.

Relief. Relief that someone Haku cares for so deeply, the _one_ person he cares for more than anyone else in the entire universe, still has that sense of innocence. The stars are impossible to reach, they both know that. But just the thought of escaping into that vastness is both terrifying and liberating.

“All right. Let’s run away to the stars, then.”

But as long as he has Eiri with him, and Eiri has the light of the stars reflected in his eyes, then Haku knows they’ll be unstoppable.

Maybe magic isn’t as dead as he thought.


End file.
